Fly-trap.



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E. LEWIS.

FLY TRAP,

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6. 1913.

Patented Oct. 24, 1916.

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ELSWORTH LEWIS, 0F SHREVE, OHIO.

FLY-TRAP.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELswoRTI-I LEWIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Shreve, in the county of Wayne and State of Ohio, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Fly-Traps, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The invention has for an object to enable the rapid and safe removal ofa fly chamber from a large trap without liability of the escape ofvictims from the chamber, or from a lower heavy bait portion or base,and without requiring the manipulation of any fastenings or closuredevices.

An important object is to give a novel bait section of improvedcharacter with a large capacity but occupying little space.

A further purpose is to present an improved mechanism for'hastening themovement of flies from the bait chamber to the fly chamber or drum, inwhich the victims are removed.

It is another attainment of the invention that a simple and efficientmeans is provided for operating intermittently agitator devices to bothbrush and frighten the flies toward the drum.

It is also sought to enable the manufacture of such a trap at a lowcost.

Additional objects and advantages will appear, some of which will appearfrom the following description and from the drawings in which- Figure 1is a perspective view of the trap, Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view,Fig. 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view thereof, Fig. 4 is afragmentary vertical section of the operating mechanism.

There is illustrated a trap comprising a base chamber 10 formedby asuitable housing, principally of sheet iron, the chamber having asemicircular form in cross section with the exception that its top isextended slightly beyond the arc of the sides as at 11, forming a throatleading to a narrow neck 12 at the apex, extending throughout the lengthof the chamber. The chamber is provided with a solid floor 13, and thesides 15 stop short thereof to form a narrow entrance slot 14 extendingfor the full length of the trap. The throat portion 11 is preferablyformed of a material to admit light, such as cloth, fine wire screen, oropalescent glass, the opacity of the sides 15 and illumination of thethroat coiiperating for a function to be explained. The ends 16 of theSerial No. 805,010.

the sides of the chamber and throat are fastened. The sides of the neck12 are preferably opaque, and it is of rectilinear form with verticalsides. It is covered by a glass plate 17, one edge of which is raised asat 18 to allow passage of flies therefromunder to the drum 20, to bedescribed. The drum 20 is of cylindrical form, consisting of two heads19 at the ends with insets21 in their lower sides adapted to fit snuglyover the neck 12, the drum being slightly longer than the chamber 10 andthe insets being formed on the inner sides of the heads, so that thedrum will be supported thereby. The drum sides are formed of wire screenfastened to the heads and terminating at the sides of the notches so asto fit snugly against the sides of the neck when the drum is adjustedthereon. Concentric grooves 22 are formed on the inner sides of theheads 19 close to the screen sides, at the lower part of the drum andextending across the notches 21, and slidable in these there is a curvedsliding door 23 having pins 24: projecting through reduced portions ofthe slots at each end of the drum door for its manipulation. The drumtends to fall into closed position under the action of gravity, so thatwhen the drum is lifted from the bait chamber by means of the knobs 25at each end, the door slides into closed position automatically. Ifdesired, the plate 17 may be hinged at the side opposite the opening 18,and arranged to fall into closed position by gravity, being held open bythe weight of the drum bearing down upon the small levers 26 pivoted ateach end of the neck so that one end of each will be engaged by theadjacent head 19, the inner tively connected, the opposite ends of thelinks being joined ,pivotally to a reciprocating rod 30 mounted slidablyon the end of the chamber 10, and operated intermittently in a manner tobe described. The a outer edges of the wings are arranged to swing closeto the sides 15, and at the beginning of the throat 11 there are placedstops 31 to determine the inner limit of movement of, the Wings and holdthem as the access of rodents, or objects that might obstructoperationof the trap.

.' Mounted revolubly on the end of the chamber 10 adjacent the rod thereis a disk- 35' having a wrist 36 from which there extends a link 37connected to the rod 30, the disk having a small gear 38 thereon meshedwith a large spring operated gear 39, operated by any customary form ofspring connections with, and winding of which spring may be accomplishedby any suitable means ordinarily employed for the purpose, and not hereillustrated. The disk has'two radial teeth 40 diametrically opposedthereon, and an escapement leveril is pivoted thereadja'centhaving armsembracing the disk and having fingers 42 thereon the inner ends of whichare spaced slightly more than the periphery at the base of one tooth'andthe outer end of the other tooth. Oscillation of the lever will allowintermitte'nt rotation of the disk, in the way well understood. Thelever has a primary arm 48, engaged by a spring 44 tending to hold it atone limit of its oscillatory movement, the arm projecting some distancepast the spring, its end being disposed in the path of teeth 45 onamcmber iG carried by the hour shaft l7 of'a clock mechanism or thelike, the disk rotating to move the arm 43 against action of the spring44. A stop screw 48 is mounted on the end of- -the chamber 10 to limitmovement of the lever toward the spring. The shaft 47 should make aboutone revolution per hour, possibly more or less. In practice the bestresults have been attained by not operating the wings 28, as indicated.

The complete device is supported by legs 49 01": suitable form.

In operation, the trap being properly baited, it is set in ;a suitablesituation and the flies will quickly gather on the wings. A great manywill leave the bait chamber "quick-1y under-natural impulse and passinto the drum-20 from which they will be unable to find their Way out.But the tendency is for a great many to remain on the bait, thuscrowding othersaway and lessening the capacity of the trap for trapping,the flies, even though they cluster thickly about. Suddenly, however,the two sides of the floor spring upwardly jarring the flies from thebait when the steps 31 check the movement of the wings abruptly, andcausing a great commotion and fright among the flies. The wings havingclosed off the light from the entrances, and the sides 15 being dark theflies will be attracted to the illuminated throat, from whence they willstruggle to the light at the upper end of the neck 12 and out from underthe plate 17 into the drum 20. The semi-illumination coming through thescreen at the upper part of the throat will at all times lead the fliesupwardly toward the neck and cause them to pass more rapidly in thatdirection, by reason of the factthat when they are in the lower part ofthe chamber the top of the neck is some distance away, and interveningflies may obscure its light.

It is an important advantage of this trap that the construction is suchthat it will rapidly trap flies without the operation oi the wings bythe clock and spring mechanism, and therefore should the winding of thesprings be overlooked the trap does not become inoperative. In fact, itwill operate as a stationary device much better than many prior devices.

The removal of the drum will be understood from the foregoingdescription. In its replacement, the projecting pins 24 on each end ofthe door 28 are pressed upwardly by the fingers of the operator, whilethe insets 21 in the heads 19 are adjusted on the neck 12.

The drum may be made in two sections hinged at 50, and secured in closedposition by a fastening 51. This permits access to the interior forthorough cleaning. The drum may also be held in place upon the neck 12by means of a fastening at 52.

I do not regard the scope of my invention as limited to the particularembodiment shown, as it is obviously possible to modify it in manyparticulars within the scope of my claims.

iVhat is claimed:

1. In a trap a bait chamber having oscillatable elements therein, arotating disk having opposed teeth, operative connections between thedisk and the oscillatable elements for the purpose described, anescapement lever engaged therewith, eccentric con- 'nections between thedisk and the oscillatable elements, means tending to rotate the disk,and means to operate the lever intermittently.

2. In a mechanical insect trap of the character described, a horizontalbait chamber housing having substantially semi-cylin- 1,202,542 &

drical side walls having an exit centrally at its upper part and havinglow longitudinal ingress openings at each side, said h0using havingvertical walls at each end, vanes pivoted concentrically of the housingof a form to lie below and adjacent respective ingress openings and toswing upwardly vithin the housing said vanes being shaped andproportioned to lie close to respective side walls and the end walls,means to oscillate the vanes simultaneously and means to my hand inpresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELSWORTH LEWIS. Witnesses:

JOHN DRUELLER, DON LAWRENCE.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

